Accidents Happen
by HammerTimexx
Summary: After a fight between Sam and Peter during a battle gets one of them hospitalized, the two of them have to end up putting aside their differences to try and work as a team. At first, it's an actual challenge, but soon enough they realize they have more in common than anyone thought. (This is a terrible summary, it sounds all. . . Sappy. Ew. It's a good story, okay? SpideyxNova fic)
1. Accidents Happen

"Come on, Web-Head, get it together!" Nova yelled, currently holding up the arm of the Juggernaut. They were in the destroyed center of Manhattan, and the red-clad teen was nowhere in sight. "I can't take this alone."

"And that's the only time I'll hear you say that," Spiderman laughed, swinging over from behind one of the taller buildings before webbing the man's helmet completely. Immediately the Juggernaut's oversized hand dropped away from Nova and began to claw blindly at his face, which gave the young defender a chance to shoot away.

Both of the teens ended up coming to rest on an overpass, watching for just a moment as the Juggernaut struggled blindly for a fault in the webbing. "I only said it because he had my arms pinned. It won't take much to get him down now."

"Uh huh. Yeah. You're just upset because you had to call for help. Poor old Nova, he's getting on in his years. He's going to need nurse assistance soon enough," Spidey began to laugh at the mental image of a hunched over and grey Sam before letting out a small yelp as he was shoved over. "Rude," He muttered, catching himself on the railing. Nova simply smirked.

They'd been battling the Juggernaut all day, and unfortunately, Fury had split the team up. Tiger, Iron Fist and Power Man had all been in some water infested area of Jersey, taking on the Sandman. After the Hellicarrier had been attacked a while back, the containment unit that Marko had been being stored in had shattered, allowing him to slip through the grating. Now he was trying (and succeeding) in tearing up whatever he could as well as trying to finally reach land. So, while they dealt with him, Peter and Sam were forced to work together to take down the current idiot trying to break into one of the banks around town. It had been well over five hours, and now they wanted to wrap things up.

"This entire situation could have been avoided if we'd kept Andy," The webbed hero muttered in annoyance, swinging forward until one his feet connected with the soft tissue situated at the Juggernaut's stomach, while the other hit into the armor hard, causing him to grimace. He could only be thankful that there was any break in the armor, even if it was small.

"You mean the magic brick that ate everything? I don't think so." The villain let out a groan of pain before being blown back from a bright blast, which connected directly with the center of his chest. "And _that's _how you do it," Nova bragged, smirking as he flew back down.

"Hey, I'm the one who stunned him enough to even get there, so that means my _feet_ are better than you," Peter countered, webbing up the villain's wrists and ankles. Clicking on his communicator, he requested a few S.H.I.E.L.D agents to come and get their newest addition to their collection of crazies. "You know, for being a lame superhero, you're really sure of yourself."

"Lame?" Nova scoffed, shaking his head. "You're wrong about that, as per usual."

"Oh come on, you get your powers from a helmet, you gotta admit that's _pretty_ lame."

At this, Nova flew down to step on the ground in front of Parker, leaving the Juggernaut behind Peter and supposedly unconscious. It was obvious that Sam had bristled slightly at Peter's previous comment, now crossing his arms defenstively over his chest. "Hey, you wanna talk about lame? How about a boy with the powers of a spider? Come on, I'm a defender of the Galaxy, I shoot pure heat from my hands, and I can fly. And then there's you, the unloved science nerd who has two friends and all of New York hates him."

"Hey!" He'd thought they'd been teasing, but Peter now wanted to hit that idiotically smug look off of the other boy's face. "That's crossing a line, alright? You may be a defender of the Galaxy, but I'm a defender of Earth, and I'm the leader of your team. You don't just get to undermine my authority like that. I'm superior in intelligence and rank, thanks."

"What authority? You're hardly even a leader! The only person you care about is yourself, which isn't that surprising."

It was then that a familiar type of tingling began to ring through Peter's head, but he ignored it, now fuming. "That's not true! I care about all of you, even if it's some more than ot-"

"Webs!"

Nova's hand flung out in front of him a split second before there was sickening crack, the Juggernaut's metal-clad arm connecting with the crook of Peter's neck. Spiderman immediately crumbled, his legs collapsing against the pavement as the villain laughed. Looking up at Nova, the man sneered, "I should thank you for distracting him. Sounds like you hate him almost as much as I do."

The defender shook his head, slowly taking in the situation. He. . . Helped? As the realization hit him, he could feel rage begin to bubble under his skin and spill over. Shaking his head as if to clear the thought, he began to blast the armored man with all he was worth, slowly making his way in between the yelling giant and his friend. It was odd, he'd never felt this much pure energy flow through him until now, and half of it was out of pure anger. "You'll pay," He assured, hearing the man let out a new yelp of pain as he turned up the heat. His voice softened as he glanced down at Peter, swallowing. "Now's a good time to wake up, Webs." Nova half-heartedly joked, kicking Peter's foot. When no response happened, Nova turned up the heat even further, hearing the man begin to scream.

It was then that three agents ran up, and with them Nick Fury as the Hellicarrier pulled over the area. The Juggernaut moved to stand, but his armor was partially melted and no longer user friendly. "Come on get up, Fury's here. You can't let him know that you got side tracked." Even if it wasn't true, not really, Sam didn't want to feel as much guilt as he did now. Peter had gotten side tracked, right? He had to have sensed it, so it had to be his fault.

Right?

As carefully as he could, Sam scooped the boy up bridal style, trying not to hurt his shoulder and neck any further. Something about him just felt _off_, and it was when Spiderman's head lolled onto his broken shoulder that Sam figured out why. The bones were all shattered, and everything above his clavicle was pretty much mush.

"Parker, please. . . ." Sam requested with a slightly worried tone, shooting off towards the Hellicarrier even as Fury yelled after him, "wake up." Again, he was met with silence and even more guilt. "I didn't mean what I said; I was angry, now come on, don't do this. You'll be fine; you get thrown around a lot." He grabbed the mask that his friend was wearing and pulled, revealing a passed out Peter Parker. He nearly blanched at the fact that blood was visible, seeing as it was trickling from the corner of the genius's mouth.

"We'll get you to the hospital wing of the carrier, it'll be fine," He stated, flying faster. "It'll be fine."

((Loved it? Hated it? Leave a review, and I'll look at it, I can assure ^-^ I plan on uploading either every day or every other day, so keep an eye out. Thank you, Humble Readers))


	2. Consulting The Team

"What happened?!" Ava asked, running into the hospital wing and shoving past Sam. She was quickly followed by Luke and Danny, all having worried expressions apparently etched into their faces.

They'd been paged away from their fight, being quickly replaced by Tony Stark, of all people. He'd sent them off without so much as another word, ignoring when Luke tried to find out more. Instead, they were picked up by their standing principal and S.H.E.I.L.D agent, Phil Coulson. Once they'd gotten on the Hellicarrier, they were told by Nick Fury himself that it 'wasn't anything to panic about', but that Peter had been injured.

Sam was pushed past immediately by Luke and Danny as well, looking at the backs of his friends as they gathered around the still healing fallen teammate.

"We were in a fight with the Juggernaut, and Web-Head wasn't paying attention," Sam said quietly, walking into the room with his head hung.

"And where were you?" Luke asked, looking up at Sam with a raised eyebrow. "This is a bad blow; it's taking his body a long time to heal. He would have sensed this coming for him."

"It appears that our enemy had time to plan exactly where to hit our dear friend Peter," Danny examined, frowning. He was currently letting his fingers lightly roam over the shattered bone and bruised tissue of Peter's ruined shoulder. "Those in a rush never succeed in precision'. How could he have gotten such a good hit if Peter would have sensed it?" The blonde looked up at Sam with a gentle expression. "Didn't you wish to protect him?"

All three of the teens heads turned to look at Sam, but the boy wouldn't look up, nor talk.

"Sam, explain, we teamed you two up for a reason, you can protect each other. You have no right to just say that he was 'distracted' without defending your own case. Now tell me," Ava crossed her arms as she stared the black-haired boy down, "what. Happened."

Sam looked between all of them, opening and closing his mouth before finally collapsing into the chair next to Peter's bed. "We were fighting, alright? We were arguing and I was insulting him; he wasn't paying attention because he was trying to defend himself to me. I didn't notice that idiot brute until it was too late."

Luke let out a whistle of disbelief as Ava shook her head. Danny set a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Why must you two fight? You're friends, correct?"

"Yeah, we're friends, but he got on my nerves so I made sure to get on his too." Sam hung his head in guilt again. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt." Sam's shoulders hunched as Danny patted his back.

"What happened to the Juggernaut?" Luke asked, pulling a chair up to Peter's bed as well as the genius slumbered on. "Did he get away?"

"Probably;" Scoffed Ava, who sat on the edge of the bed, "with as much as Sam's dropped the ball today, I wouldn't be surprised."

Sam opened his mouth to make a comeback, but let it drop. Soon after, he shook his head. "No, S.H.I.E.L.D got him. He wanted to get away, but I melted his armor." He hardly gave the fact a second thought, but both Danny and Ava perked up at this.

"You what?" She asked as Danny appeared to be stunned. "That armor is made from Crimson Gem, it's practically indestructible, how did you _melt it_?"

Luke's eyebrow raised. "Crimson Gem?" He asked, earning him an eye roll from Ava as Danny explained.

"It was cultivated on a different planet, and it's what gives him his strength. The fact that Sam was able to melt that was incredible." Crossing his legs, Danny thought for a moment. "Back when we first fought the Sandman, you melted him. Sand melts at 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, and you had trouble reaching that. This must have been at least nine times stronger."

"How's that even possible?" Ava asked, her expression becoming confused.

"'Anger is the strongest of all motivators'," Danny quoted. "You were upset that you accidentally assisted in Peter's injury?"

Sam shook his head again. "I'm upset that Peter got injured _period_. First he was offended by me, and then I assist in him getting banged up by the Juggernaut of all people." He heard a crack from Peter, and his head snapped up fast enough to see some of the bones resetting themselves. Every teen in the room winced heavily at the horrid noise.

"I didn't even know you cared about Parker," Luke said honestly with a shrug. "You two haven't ever gotten along."

"Of course I care about him; he's one of my best friends," Sam scoffed. "We may bicker, but it's always been joking up until now, and in a pinch, he would always have my back," Looking at the brunette, Sam sighed. "Apparently, that was a one sided deal."

"So you actually feel guilty?" Ava asked, seeming surprised. "I didn't know you felt anything other than pride and annoyance."

"Yeah, I didn't act like I did, and look where that got me;" Sam motioned at the bed, even more upset with the sight now that he'd been conned into feeling more guilty, "he won't wake up."

"Alright, this needs to stop. When he wakes up, you two have to stop fighting. Kiss and make up before acting like team mates," Ava ordered.

"As much as I hope you don't take that literally, I have to agree," Luke shrugged, followed by a nod from Danny.

"But Peter doesn't even like me. He was saying as he got hit that he cares more about some teammates 'more than others'." Sam's fingers curled into air quotations, not even noticing Danny's expression shift from concerned to guilty for a mere moment. However, Luke and Ava both did.

Clearing her throat, Ava stood before stating, "Stay here with Parker, we have a few things that we need to discuss." Luke waved for the three of them to leave, watching over his shoulder as Sam looked at Peter's face with a pained expression.

The very moment they were out of the room, Luke crossed his arms as Ava placed her hands on her hips. "Explain," they said in unison.

((Thoughts? Reviews? I hope you guys like it so far ^-^))


	3. Something You Didn't Know

_It was three weeks ago when Peter had confronted Danny at school, scuffing his shoes lightly as he stood next to the blonde's locker. "Danny," He began, biting his lip, "I need your advice," Peter admitted, clearing his throat._

_"Help is in the eye of the one who needs it most'." Danny quoted, slipping his books into his locker as they day wound to an end._

_"In that case, consider my eyes full. Listen, you're the wisest guy I know, so I'm going to be frank with you. Well, Peter with you." Danny rolled his eyes at the terrible joke even as he smiled softly. Sure, they weren't always funny, but at least Peter seemed a bit calmer when he made the odd comments. _

_"What issue are you facing, Peter?" The teens asked calmly, turning to look at the brunette._

_"I think. . . ." He cleared his throat, and Danny saw the boy's aura spike harshly around him._

_"This is serious," The blonde stated, blinking a few times._

_"Yeah, it is, hence me trying to tell you." Peter wrung his hands nervously before sighing. "Okay. I can do this. I'm a big kid; I saved Manhattan just last week." Looking Danny in the eyes, Peter seemed to finally have his resolve before his voice came out in the smallest of squeaks, "I think I like Sam."_

_Danny gave a small shrug, "Even though you two bicker, Sam is a likable person, as well as a good friend to many."_

_Parker lifted his hands and shook his head, groaning, "No, no, not that kind of like, like,_ 'like'_ like."_

_The pacifist raised an eyebrow, but nodded, "That is rather unexpected, but as they say, 'Opposites attract'."_

_"No. No no no this isn't something that you can just say 'As they say'-," He used a mockingly calm voice at this, "-and then go about your day. I like a boy, and if that's not just weird enough, it's Sam. He hates me. I don't know what happened, we always tease each other and I was fine with that until I started to get a bit more overprotective of him on missions, and. . . I want to be his friend."_

_"Or more?" Danny queried innocently, causing Peter to color harshly._

_"Yes," He mumbled, trying to get his face to stop burning, "or more."_

_"Well, he'd notice of you suddenly just stopped joking with him, so I suppose the best method would be to slowly take it out of your guys' conversations, until eventually you two simply just talk instead of fight. Or, make your fighting seem more like a jest, therefore he won't feel the need to get defensive." Danny rested a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Just be yourself, and eventually you will see the correct path to take."_

-0-0-

"What." Luke deadpanned, blinking as Ava tried to keep her jaw from falling to the floor. "He. . ._ Likes_ Sam? He likes the boy that nearly just got him killed?"

"Leave it to Parker," The girl of the group scoffed, feeling the familiar blaze of annoyance and anger start in her stomach.

"I'd be surprised if he'd even talk to him now," Luke admitted, shrugging. "Whatever he said must have been _bad_ if he could throw Parker off his game."

Danny simply shook his head. "As surprising as it may seem," He sighed, "I don't think Peter will hold this against Sam. But whatever was said, it must have been fairly harsh to elicit ignorance in Peter."

"Well then, we'll find out," Ava decided.

"What, you're going to just _ask _him?" Rolling his eyes, Luke crossed his arms. "That kind of seems like a bad idea."

"Who said anything about asking?" She pointed out, walking back into Peter's current room with enough force in her step to deter anyone that would have tried to get in her way. Bypassing Peter, she walked right to the source of the problems. "What exactly did you say to get him so defensive? As much of an idiot as he is, he's not stupid, so would could you have said?" Placing a hand on either arm rest of Sam's chair, the girl squared him in, glaring. "Tell me, now." She snarled, feeling the sisterly part of her relationship with Peter flare severely.

Sam sank into his chair, suddenly looking afraid for his life. "I. . I. . . "

"Answer the question. What. Did. You. Say," She snapped, her eyes narrowing.

And so he explained. He offered up every detail, and he knew almost every word of what had been said. By the time he was finished, Ava looked even more angry, Danny looked almost ashamed at the situation, and Luke looked disappointed.

"You. . ." Luke let out a sigh, shaking his head. "Sam, why would you?"

"We were arguing, he called me lame," He defended weakly, feeling his shoulders begin to collapse under the weight of guilt and self-loathing. Danny practically watched as the last bit of resolve drained out of the defender.

"Oh, he called you lame? So you tell the one who has a bad enough self-esteem as it is that he's unloved? Remember the "Spiderman in Black" that got him so upset? It was because he felt like he wouldn't be enough, and your stupid comment didn't help. Look where it got him. This just proves," She gestured at the bed, and as if on cue, Peter shifted lightly with a small wince, "that you are an idiot, Sam Alexander."

"Why are you getting so defensive about this? You get annoyed with him too, why should it matter?" Sam was desperately looking for some way that he didn't seem like a total monster, but was coming up empty handed. So, instead, he took the route that he always did: Anger. "You can't all judge me for an accident, alright? You've all messed up plenty of times before."

"I'm leaving before I break you," She scoffed, grabbing the wrists of both Danny and Luke. "Come on." Hauling the two other boys out of the room, both of whom were sporting wide eyes, Ava made sure to leave both of the other boys alone.

Sam sat back down, letting his head fall to rest on the bed directly next to Peter's hand, "I've messed up, haven't I?"

((And, another chapter down ^-^ I should add now that this story will stay at a T rating, for anyone who was wondering. I hope you like it, and don't forget to R&R!))


	4. Now That's Just Rude

"No, Mrs. Parker, he's just crashing at my place for the night. I promise, I'll have him call you the moment he wakes up, it's been a long day and he fell asleep the second we got home." Tapping a small rhythm on his knee, Sam nodded again as he spoke to Aunt May. "Alright, see you later. Goodbye." Flipping shut his phone, Sam sat back in his chair before looking at the still unconscious Peter with a sigh. "Come on man, 9 hours? It's getting a bit ridiculous, Parker, even for you."

Oddly enough, the defender hadn't left Peter's side yet, much to the rest of the team's surprise. It had been nearly ten hours since Peter had been knocked out, and even Fury was refraining from interfering just to see if Sam would stay.

"I, uh. . . . .I hope you're feeling better, at least," He tried to offer, tapping Peter's hand in unison to the beat on his knee. "You know, I'm glad that you're bones aren't broken any more and stuff. Would the bruising still happen, or would that go away before the broken bones?" He tipped his head to the side as he asked, even as a yawn poured from his lips. "I think it would. Since it's a smaller injury, and all." Eventually, he draped his hand over Peter's blindly as he closed his eyes, resting his head on his arms and his arms on the side of Peter's bed. He was hardly even aware that he had any contact with the brunette, but was too tired to really care. It was already two AM, and Sam was ready to sleep. "I'll get up when you do, but I need a bit of sleep. Melting the Juggernaut isn't as easy as you'd think-" He yawned once more, "-and I need my energy."

-0-0-

Pain. Darkness. Lots and lots of throbbing. _Just like any other morning_, Peter thought sarcastically, groaning as he opened an eye. They were crusted over, which made the genius blanch. "That's disgusting." He muttered, his throat sounding as if it were its own small desert. "Oh great, and now I sound like Doc Ock. This keeps getting better." Looking around through his still half shut eyes, Peter noticed that the room was pristinely kept. Also, there was quite a lot of electronics, but it was rather dark. The smell of antiseptic filled his nostrils and made him frown. "The hospital wing of the Hellicarrier?" He asked aloud, arching his eyebrow. "Man, I knew the team loved having me around, but not enough to injure me just to keep me here after dark. There are limits to these kinds of things, aren't there?"

Peter moved to sit up, only to feel his right hand weighed down and warm. "What the. . . ?" Flipping his hand, he was met with someone's palm. Blinking a few times in surprise, he sat up with a wince only to be met with the sight of a sleeping Sam.

"Wha-" He began to murmur before memory hit him like, well, like the Juggernaut. The argument, the words, what Sam had said. And then he remembered a moment of pain before, click click, light's out. He wanted to be angry, he _really _wanted to, but he just couldn't. It was _Sam_, the boy had a temper like a bull on him. And, looking at him now, he actually looked kind of miserable. If Peter didn't know any better, he'd say that Sam had been here for a while . Quite technically, Peter should have known better than to taunt him into an argument.

"Then again . . . . " He pointed out quietly, "this could be fun." With a silent laugh, Peter relaxed against the bed before letting out a groan as he 'woke up'. Letting out a low cough, he dramatically sat up, moving his hand from under Sam's and waking the boy up in the process. Blinking his eyes tiredly, Sam brought his bloodshot gaze up to Peter before smiling so widely the brunette was sure his smile would break the confines of his face.

"You're awake," He said tiredly, his voice cracking. As immature as the idea was, Sam had actually been afraid the Peter wouldn't wake up at all. Sure, it was a dumb fear, but it was gone now. Clearing his own throat, he sat up a bit more. "You've been out for a while, man."

And it was then that Peter decided to do something mean.

"Who are you?"

(Let's face the truth, guys, that is totally something Peter would do. He's a bit rude, no? Anyways, don't forget to R&R, and check in next time ^-^))


	5. Really, Parker?

Ice poured through Sam's body at the words. "Parker?" He asked cautiously, his brow furrowing. A rather large part of his brain was hoping that he was still asleep. "I'm Sam, one of your teammates." For some reason, the idea of Peter not remembering him . . . . hurt. A lot. Shouldn't that be a good thing? Peter wouldn't remember him getting hurt, and it wasn't like Peter liked him that much anyways. They could just restart, right?

Okay, that was completely incorrect, seeing as Peter would just find out from the rest of their team, but _still_.

Sitting up a bit straighter, Peter began to look around the room from the bed. "Teammates?" He echoed, looking confused. "What teammates? What is this place?"

It was making it worse as he watched Peter go on, the fact that the genius didn't recognize him causing an odd pain in his chest. "It's the S.H.I.E.L.D Hellicarrier, you work for them. You're on a team with me, and three other people our age." Clearing his throat, Sam rested his elbow on the bed.

"What do we do? What's S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"We're uh. . . . heroes." It sounded funny, just saying it flat out, but Sam could only give a shrug. "And S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." It took a moment to rattle it off, and Peter didn't even seem to care by the time he was finished. _So he didn't change _that _much_, Sam thought.

"And who are you again?" He asked, tipping his head to the left.

"I'm Sam."

"Really?" Peter's brow furrowed at that. "You don't look like a Sam."

"Then what do I look like?" He asked, sounding a bit incredulous.

"Eh. I'd say. . . ." He set his mouth in a thin line as he thought, before he suddenly perked up. "I know! You look like you should be called. . . ." He lifted up his hands to draw a pretend rainbow on which the name would be rested, "Captain Bucket-Head."

Sam's expression turned from depressed to surprised/relieved/annoyed in such a short amount of time that Peter burst into chuckles. "You suck!" Sam accused, swiping the pillow out from behind Peter before hitting it over his head.

"Hey, calm down there, Sparky, I'm still sore." Catching the pillow as it came down for the next hit, Peter laughed again.

"That was mean, even for you Parker." Dropping his head into his hands, Sam hid embarrassed and red face.

"Oh, like you were a picnic today. For being a guy who deals with fire on a daily basis; that was cold of you earlier." Resting his pillow on his lap, Peter let out a groan as he shifted his shoulder. "Man, Juggernaut can pack one heck of a punch."

"I'd guess so. You were pretty much Jello for a while." Sitting up a bit straighter before rubbing at his eyes, Sam couldn't help but chuckle. "I melted him, if that helps."

Peter's mouth slowly lifted into a smile before he let out a snigger, "Alright, it helps a little." Looking around the dark room, he raised an eyebrow. "How long was I out?"

Sam grabbed his phone from the end table and clicked one of the side buttons, causing the screen to light up and the teen to shy away from the light. After a second, he squinted before looking at the screen one more time and shut it off again, rubbing at his eyes. "Fourteen hours. It's three AM."

"And what time did you get here?" Peter asked, yawning.

Sam scoffed with a chuckle. "The same time you did? I brought you here." Peter blinked a few times at that before putting two and two together.

"You haven't left?" He asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"No. I'm the reason you're here, why would I leave?" Sam raised an eyebrow before realizing how that sounded, and cleared his throat. "And, you know, I didn't have anything else to do. You know, boredom and stuff."

Shaking his head, Half of Peter's mouth lifted up into a smile. "Well, glad my unconscious body could waste your extra time," He jibbed, putting the pillow behind his head as he sat back.

"Not a problem, Parker."

(Sorry this chapter is so short, but I didn't have much time to write it. The next chapter will be longer and better, I promise :3 Don't forget to R&R, and thank you lovely readers)


	6. Some Things Just Can't Go Right

Luke scrubbed tiredly at his eyes as he made his way to the hospital wing, planning on seeing if Peter was well enough to go to school yet. He'd been woken up at six AM, far too early by his standards, to collect the rest of the team. Idly, he wondered if Sam had stayed or fallen asleep in his own bed, leaving Peter alone.

After seeing Peter's injuries the day before, Luke was skeptical about even waking him up, but supposed that if it was by Coulson's orders, the boy would be fine. "I swear to god, if that idiot Flash tries to do the 'Locker Knocker Time' . . ." He grumbled, dragging his bare feet across the metal floor.

He arrived at Peter's room within a few minutes, and was met with a rather surprising sight.

Sam was still there. Sleeping on Peter's bed.

Next to Peter.

Well, 'next to' was a bit. . . incorrect.

They were cuddling, it appeared.

"Uhm. . ." He tried to think of a way that this wasn't hilarious, but was coming up empty handed. Walking back out with a small laugh and a new mission of getting his phone to snap a picture, he was met with the sight of a bed-headed and still pyjama'd Ava.

She yawned and handed her coffee to Luke before she stretched, looking at his face like he was crazy. "What are you smiling about? Nothing is good at this early in the morning."

"Uh. It's Parker," He said, motioning back at the room with his thumb as he handed the cup back.

"What, is he up?" She asked, yawning as she sipped at her drink idly.

"He's cuddling like a five year old. Snoring too," Luke chuckled, causing Ava to nearly spit out her drink.

"With Sam?" She asked, looking a bit more awake now.

"Who else would he be cuddling with?"

"Why is he cuddling with anyone in the first place? I'm more surprised that Sam actually stayed that long."

"I'm surprised that they've made up. Well, we can assume that they have, but for all we know, Sam just shoved him over because he was tired."

Ava just shook her head with a crooked smile and fished into her pyjama pant pockets, eventually pulling out her phone. "Get me a picture that I can use against them," She requested, handing the phone off, "because I've gotta go get ready."

"Can do," He laughed.

-0-0-

They had ended up just talking until six. Sure, there was some light bickering, but it was the longest they'd ever gone without actually arguing. It wasn't until Sam began to fall asleep sitting up that Peter had rolled his eyes and scooted over. "It's a huge bed, just come on," He assured, patting it dramatically. "Think of it as a sleepover. Well, a sleep over that came to fruition by me nearly dying." Peter flashed the raven-haired boy a smile, while Sam just rolled his eyes and climbed up, collapsing against the bed.

Now they were both woken by a hand on either of their shoulders (Peter's uninjured one and Sam's left).

"Five more minutes, Aunt May," Peter mumbled tiredly, curling even tighter to Sam before realizing that his pillow was doing just a tad too much _breathing_. Shooting awake, he flung up into sitting position only to be met with the sight of his team, all laughing and clutching at their stomachs.

"What's with all the noise?" Sam muttered sleepily, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. It took him nearly two minutes to figure out why the other three were laughing, and even then he just yawned again.

"What are you guys doing here?" Peter asked, stretching his bad shoulder with a wince. His left hand came up to massage it as Luke gave a shrug.

"Coulson's orders, he says you're supposed to come back to school."

Sam groggily sat up, running his hand through his hair. "We were up late, that's a good enough excuse right?"

"_You_ have no excuse, although Peter might. But Coulson woke _me_ up early to get you, so sorry, but you're going to class."

Both of the boys in the bed let out groans, and Sam moved to stand. Gingerly, the defender plucked up his outfit and helmet as he yawned once more.

"He was treating you like a teddy bear," Ava giggled, shaking her head. "I'm using that picture for everything. " She held up her phone to show both of them curled up, snoring with open mouths and mussed up hair.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up. Come on, we've got school." Peter shimmied his legs out of bed before moving to stand, only to collapse the moment he tried to take a step.

"Whoa, hey!" The laughing stopped when Peter was caught around the waist by Sam's left arm, who was currently hovering about an inch above the bed with his headgear glowing in his right hand. "My legs. . ." Peter stated, looking up at all of them.

"Why aren't they working?"

((Dundundunnn. I think I get looser lipped as I write these. Okay, so this story is going to get all sorts of awesome (trust me, I hate putting characters through _too _much pain ^-^), so stay tuned, my friends. Also, I lied last chapter, this one was not longer, nor better, but the next one TOTALLY WILL BE. That's a Jay guarantee. Ew. That sounds like a really shady car dealer. Ah, well. Point being, don't forget to R&R and have an awesome day =3 Thank you, Humble Readers.))


	7. Who?

"Re-break?" Sam asked, feeling himself pale at the thought.

"Don't worry, it's a simple procedure. When his body healed, two of the disks in his vertebrae bonded together in the wrong place," Doctor Connors explained, smiling assuredly. "It'll only take about a half hour to fix, and Peter'll be right as rain. We just need to break apart the two disks, and put them in the right place. His healing factor will take care of most of the work, and he'll be able to leave in a few days."

"A few _days_?" Ava asked incredulously, shaking her head. "We can't waste all that time, we have jobs to do!"

"Until then, you'll just have to go without Peter."

"But Doc-"

"No exceptions." With a stern look spread between the four of them, Doctor Connors turned on heel and walked back into Peter's room.

The group had called down Fury as well as Doctor Connors when they found that Peter couldn't stand. After a few minutes of analysis, Connors announced that Peter's spine was healing wrong, and needed to be fixed immediately.

The team watched him leave, and silence fell between them for a mere moment before Sam broke it. "The Juggernaut broke his _back_," Sam muttered. The disdain in his voice was palpable.

"So it was said," Luke stated, earning himself a small headshake from Danny.

"Not the right time for sarcasm," The blonde whispered to the teen.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Ava shrugged. "We'll just have to work without him; it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Think of it as a new training exercise."

"How's this situation a training exercise? The leader of our team is in the hospital. This is borderline nightmare. Plus, think of all the guys he takes out when he's by himself on his 'me time'. We're going to have to cover that, too," Luke crossed his arms with a heavy sigh, "None of this can be leading up to anything good."

"Stop whining, we'll be fine. Peter may be good, but he wasn't the only one working. We can manage ourselves," Ava gave a shrug as she turned around, "Now if you guys don't mind, I need to get to class. We have a test in Chem today that I plan to ace."

Reluctantly, the boys all followed, even if their minds still stayed on their leader.

-0-0-

_Bell. Shuffling. Hallways. Class. Lunch. Bell. Bell. Another bell, what a surprise. _

To say that Sam was a bit distracted would have been an understatement. Class seemed more boring than usual, and his anger level was rising against his will. Even at lunch, he hadn't spoken to MJ or Harry, but left the table when they asked where Peter was. He'd said 'bathroom break', but it was a terrible and obvious excuse to leave. It wasn't as if he had a good excuse anyways. "Oh, yeah, he and I were playing superhero, and I got him injured."

That just didn't sound right.

Danny and Luke seemed to be having the same problem that Sam was, while Ava was working overly hard to forget about it all. Luke was apologizing profusely to everyone he bumped by accident, seeming to have a hard time even having physical contact with anyone, while Danny just stayed perfectly silent. By the time school was finished, all four of them were in a foul mood.

MJ managed to snag Danny, pulling him off to the side as the rest of his group began to flow out the door. "What happened yesterday? First you all left school early, and now you're all walking around as if someone died."

"It's nothing, I can assure you. We are all simply worrying for a friend," He promised, holding his hands up in a surrendering position, "We went to school with him a few years back, and he's having a few medical issues. We received the news this morning."

It was only _partially_ a lie.

It was then that his phone went off, and he gave the girl an apologetic smile, "I apologize, but is it alright if I take this?"

Of course Mary Jane wasn't going to hold him against his will, so she could only watch as he jogged away to catch up with the rest of his friends, his phone against his ear. "I hope he gets better!" She called out, earning herself a smile from the pacifist.

The smile dropped as he listened to Fury speak into his ear, "There's a new mission."

-0-0-

"This- Is- Ridiculous!" White Tiger called out breathlessly, catching Nova's foot as he flew past. He continued to shoot forward, and eventually she let go until she landed on a separate rooftop. Crouching down, she watched as the Frightful Four continued to rip everything to shreds.

"To be honest, it's a bit more difficult without having Spidey here to catch us," Power Man pointed out, blocking a hit from Thundra. Iron Fist was on his left, trying to get out the Wizard out of commission.

"But we'll deal without!" White Tiger shouted, sprinting forward to claw her way to the Trapster. "Trust me, everything will turn out just f-"

"Guys!" Nova roared, letting out a yelp. His helmet was ripped off, but his face ducked, leaving him defenseless. He was just finished being tied up on a rooftop about three buildings down, binded completely by metal wiring around his torso. Klaw stood over him, victoriously holding up the defender's helmet.

"A prize, for the doctor!" He yelled, laughing, "Apparently he's helpless without it."

"Nova!" Iron Fist and Power Man yelled in unison, turning away from the villains to catch sight of their friend. Within a moment, The Wizard and Thundra were gone, both leaving to join The Trapster as he cornered in White Tiger.

"We'll be taking _that,_" The Wizard hissed, flinging forward a metal disk to connect with the green amulet on White Tigers belt.

"No!" She yelled, reaching out to grab it before it flew away from her. Within a mere second, it was in Thundra's hand.

"Trapster," The leader smirked, and immediately White Tiger was buried in a mound of muck. "Take both the helmeted boy and this one back to our dear doctor," She muttered, turning on heel. Glaring at the two boys running towards them, she nodded again. "Klaw?"

The soundwave emitted from their enemy was worse than any produced before, and both of the boys collapsed against the tarred floor. Iron Fist covered his ears as Power Man fought to stand, giving White Tiger a helpless look. "I'll be fine, help Iron!" She yelled out over the sound, her own expression pained as her eardrums popped from the sheer volume. When Power Man fell again, he pressed his hands over Iron Fist's own, shielding the teen's ears from the noise.

The moment Klaw lowered his arm, he grinned. "The boss really knows how to help out weapons," He stated proudly, grabbing White Tiger by the back of the neck. She let out a small yell, but quickly shut her mouth, just squeezing her left hand tightly.

Both Power Man and Iron Fist were struggling to get a grip on their balances, trying to get into at least a sitting position. Before the two could stand, however, all four of the villains, and two of the heroes, were gone.

"Call Fury," Power Man requested, looking more pale than ever before.

Clicking on his communicator, even Iron Fist didn't sound calm, but shaken. Looking up at Power Man when he was finished, he looked surprised. "Your ears," He stated, lifting hand to touch one. When he pulled back, there was just a dab of red on the tips of his fingers.

"It's just a bit of bleeding, I'll be fine. Yours would have burst, if you'd been listening much longer."

"Luke. . . ." Iron Fist stated quietly, hearing the hum of the Hellicarrier from half a mile off. "What just happened?"

"Ava and Sam were kidnapped for some doctor," Luke sighed, slipping off his mask. "and we couldn't stop it."

"But the main question is," Danny slid off his own mask as he looked up at Luke, "'doctor' who?"

((NOT A CROSSOVER. It just sounded funny, alright? There is no crossover, this is still in the marvelverse, yadayadayada. Ah. And I should mention, I don't own any of this (cough disclaimer cough). So yeah. Sorry this is so late, hopefully the next one will be one time. This was done in a super big rush so if you see any huge mistakes, please point them out and I will fix them, I promise =3 Thanks for reading!))


	8. Walking On Your Own Two Feet(?)

"The Fearful Four?!" Peter snapped, pulling the blanket off of his legs. "That's it; I'm never leaving you guys alone again. I'm gone for one day, _one day,_ and two of our team members get nabbed by the suckiest villains in the history of anything _ever._" Standing shakily, he pulled on a shirt before lifting his arms too high, letting out a small cry as he shifted his spine. He fell back into a sitting position on the bed, looking extraordinarily distressed. "How did that even happen? They suck at their jobs!"

"Peter, you need to calm down," Danny stated, looking ashamed and worried simultaneously. "We'll fix it, I can assure of you of that."

"They have _Nova and White Tiger_. How did they even catch them? They're the two fastest on the team!" The genius exclaimed, moving to stand again.

"They got Sam's helmet off, and Ava's medallion. Those both are the main source of their powers, you know that." Reaching out, Luke placed a hand on Peter's good shoulder and pushed him down to sit once more, shaking his head. With a sigh, he chided, "Stop it. You need your rest. Danny and I will find them, we promise."

Before Peter could even come up with a retort, there was a voice from the hallway, "You won't need to."

Nick Fury made his way into the room, crossing his arms. "Luckily, at least one of your team members was intelligent enough when they created their gear." Holding up a small tablet, a hologram of Manhattan was formed before zooming in on the underground. "White Tiger placed a tracking device in her glove, for emergencies. Luckily for us, she set it off early enough that we were able to find her general location before it became out of range."

"Ava's always a step ahead," Luke sighed with a grin. "Do we know who they were taken for?"

"Not yet, but there are a few 'doctors' in our database that we may be able to look at. Or maybe it's a new villain. All we know is that you two need to be debriefed before being sent out again."

"I don't understand. What use is it to take two of us?" Danny queried, steepling his fingers under his chin with a look of concentration.

"You guys are idiots," Peter muttered, dropping back against his bed with a sigh and a wince. "Don't you see? Luke, Danny and I all have one thing in common: Our powers are inside us. They can't be taken away. Sam's powers come from his helmet, were he's granted strength, speed, flying, and heat. Ava gets her powers from her amulet, and that gives her speed and strength, as well as better fighting skills. They were the two easiest to take out of commission." Letting his hands shift at his sides, he continued, "Either they're cooking up something better to get the three of us, or they're going to use Sam and Ava as bait."

"Bait?" Luke asked with an arched eyebrow. "For whom?"

"We'll find out. For now, you two go and find Coulson, he'll give you a run-through of the next mission," Fury sighed as he pointed his thumb at the door, kicking the two out. "As for you," He started, looking at Peter with narrowed eyes, "stay put, and don't do anything stupid."

Watching the spy leave, Peter felt an odd feeling bubble up in his stomach. "_This_ is stupid," He muttered, covering his eyes with the balls of his hands. Over the past three days, he'd been injured, hospitalized, and placed in surgery for an argument that he was having with Sam. With the amount of pain he'd been through, he'd let the rest of the team take care of it, usually, but this was. . . Sam. He couldn't just leave him, especially after that realization nearly a month ago.

And then there was the factor of Ava, one of his other best friends. Unfortunately, she was as fearless as her hero name, and just as feisty. There was no doubt that it would get her in trouble the longer she sat. Danny and Luke were good heroes, but best when they were in a team.

"This isn't stupid, this is heroic," Peter muttered, beginning to convince himself that he could do this alone.

Moving to stand with a groan, he sifted through the bag of belongings next to his bed before smiling at the sight of a familiar red suit. "Time to suit up," He smiled, grabbing his mask.

-0-0-

"Director Fury!" Came a yell from the main center of the Hellicarrier. It belonged to a random worker, one who'd been trying to re-calibrate her screen that appeared to be going haywire before shorting out. When it had been turned back on, it simply said one sentence in the middle.

As the spy ran over, every screen began to switch, all being met with complaints and furrowed brows. Eventually, the main screen also switched, and with it, Nick Fury actually became startled, if only for a split second.

_Give me Spider-Man, or they die. –DO_

-0-0-

"Parker!" Fury yelled, running down to the hospital wing. "We need to t-"

Instead of finding a bed with a disgruntled and injured teenager in it, Nick Fury was met with an empty room. Turning on heel, he began to run through, looking at every other room of the hospital. "He could hardly walk, how in the hell can he be expect to-"

The moment the realization hit, and Fury took a sharp left, running for mere moments before slamming his hand against a recognition scanner next to one of the doors. Being granted access immediately, he made his way down the long hallway before being met with a few prototypes of Iron Man's original suits, and a sight he'd been hoping he wouldn't see.

The case holding the Iron Spider suit was empty.

((Gah, that took far too long to upload. I apologize for the wait, but the next chapter will be out within the next twelve hours, as an apology =3 Don't forget to R&R and thank you, lovely readers ^-^))


	9. It's Just An Idea

"Just a bit further, alright?" Peter panted to himself, feeling sweat and tears make his face slick behind the mask as he shot webbing out to the next building. His spine reacted horridly to each pull, once in a while the pain being strong enough to force him to cry out. This only made him wish that he had practiced with the rockets on this suit, but right now he couldn't afford to waste time with joking around. He needed to find Sam and Ava fast.

Sure, he was a quick healer. What was a six month injury for most was something that he could recover from in a few days. But, in the end, the injury that he had now required at least _a bit_ of resting time, which he still hadn't granted it. That was the problem, with being a hero. There really aren't any breaks.

Mid swing, the sensors in his helmet went off, pulling up the diagram from S.H.I.E.L.D (thankfully it was still hacked to their tech), showing that both of his friends were somewhere underground in this area. Pulling himself up short, he began to descend. Eventually, he was able to drop down to street level, yanking up one of the sewer drains without too much trouble. He could hear a few exclamations of surprise around him, but he ignored it as he dropped down the narrow hole, landing on his feet and a small grunt as his spine was jolted.

"Now they can never say I'm lazy," he sighed, swallowing thickly as he stood a bit straighter. Even just looking at the walls, his mask pulled up warnings for several markings that were made in the bricks, which looked as if they had been hit repeatedly by a sharp object. Walking up, a metal glove traced one of the slices lightly. "Poor wall, being subjected to such abuse. You should file a lawsuit. You have the right evidence." Patting the wall once, he began to walk down the tunnel, listening closely. After nearly five minutes of perfect silence, he decided that he could let down his guard just a bit. With a small shrug and a pained twitch, he sucked in a deep breath, now walking a bit less cautiously in search of his friends.

"Well, scoot over Alice, because I'm down the rabbit hole."

-0-0-

"Find him!" Fury yelled, pacing the front of the Hellicarrier. "It shouldn't be this hard to trace a signal!" Every pair of hands next to a computer began to type faster, tracing a signal that was well hidden under Stark technology.

"Sir," Came a yell from Maria Hill, causing Fury to turn on heel. "We found him, but his signal is cut off at the same location as White Tigers," She spoke as she approached, handing off a small tablet as evidence. "There's something breaking the connection, so we're dead in the water. The only way to get him now is manually."

"Manually? The Avengers are offline at the moment, currently fighting off in Asgard, and the only two that I have at my command are Iron Fist and Power Man. Are you trying to tell me that I send them in?" He shook his head, not noticing as Danny and Luke step through the entrance. "It's too dangerous; they were both injured last time."

"So we're trusting all of this to be sorted out by an injured sixteen year old?" Maria looked unconvinced as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Sir-" She started before she was cut off by Fury's hand lifting.

"Enough," He snapped, setting his jaw. "We can only wait."

Again, it went unnoticed as the two boys slipped into the hallways, their heads ducked. "Peter needs help," Luke started, and Danny only nodded.

"Did you see where the signal was traced to?" Danny asked quietly, walking with Luke to his own room. "Because I'm not quite sure that I'd be able to trace it myself."

Luke nodded, and they continued to walk for a minute more before reaching their rooms. Stepping into his room, Luke looked up at his friend. "I'll be able to find it well enough, so that settles it. Go get your outfit, and I'll meet you on the ground, alright?"

"You got it," Danny smiled, nodding before running off towards his own room. "Meet you in a few!"

-0-0-

Sam awoke with a small groan, his vision tipping harshly to the left as he tried to sit up. "What the. . .?" He started, not able to move all that well. A quick pull of his hands settled the suspicion that he was tied up, but luckily his legs were free. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he looked around the small space with squinted eyes. It was a cage, the bars a dark and smooth metal with no apparent opening. He could walk around comfortably if he wanted to, but at the moment he wasn't even sure if he could stand.

"About time, it's been hours since you passed out. Well, since you were hit over the head," Ava started, looking at Sam from the cage next to him. "How're you feeling?"

Sam jumped at the sound of his friends voice, but simply shook his head, trying to get a grip on himself. He felt as if he were slipping away again, and he wasn't about to let that happen. "Like I was hit by a boulder," He admitted, hating that he could hardly see Ava. From what he could tell, there were several screens about thirty feet away from them, but they weren't giving off enough light to illuminate the space that the two of them occupied. On either side of each cage, there were doorways, but Sam couldn't bring himself to stand and investigate. They appeared to take up the entire room, with a simply hallway leading over to the screens. If he squinted hard enough, he could see Ava's arms crossed over chest as she sat back against the bars.

"You were hit over the head by Thundra's fist, so I'm not all that surprised," Ava gave a shrug as she yawned, looking over at him. "You were muttering in your sleep, by the way. Even at a time like this, you felt guilty about Parker of all people. You kept mumbling that you were sorry," She rolled her eyes as she sat back.

"I did not!" He defended, sitting up a bit straighter as his face adapted a defensive look.

"Yes, I'm just saying it for the fun of it," She smirked, shaking her head. "Really, though, you need to let it drop, I don't think he cares that much."

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but instead his voice was replaced with the voice of a science oriented genius. "Aww, you do care!"

Both Ava's and Sam's head snapped up at the sound of hushed voice, and the mask covering his face pulled away so he could look at them with a grin. "Need to be saved?"

"What are you doing out of your bed?" Ava hissed, standing as she walked closer to the doorway that Peter was currently hiding by. "You just had your spine broken, are you insane?"

"A bit, but only in the best sense," He assured, frowning as he looked at Sam. "You're bleeding," He commented, looking annoyed, "Why is he bleeding?" He asked Ava, before she simply rolled her eyes.

"Oh my god, you two are like an old married couple," She sighed, and each boy let out an indignant huff.

"Didn't answer my question, but we need to get out of here," Peter said, dropping down in front of the cages. His metal boots made a loud clanking sound against the floor, but his fingers danced around for a lock that didn't exist. "What, did they build this _around_ you?" Peter asked with an annoyed tone, his brow furrowing. After a minute more of searching, he stepped back. "You may want to get away for this," he stated, lifting up a hand. Immediately, his palm glowed before letting out a blinding blast, ripping open a hole where the two cages joined all the way through to him. Peeling back some of the metal bars, he made a wide opening for the two of them, which Ava promptly walked out of.

"You mind?" She asked, holding up her bound-together wrists.

"Well only because you asked so nicely," Peter mocked, smiling behind his mask as one of the claws came out from the back of his suit. The tip was a blade, making it easy to cut through the material. Ava began to rub at her sore wrists before her brow furrowed, and she turned on heel.

"Sam, what's taking so long?" She asked, honestly sounding confused.

Peter noticed the teens absence as well, and turning around, he let out a small sigh.

Sam was having trouble even standing, and every time he came close, he'd fall over once more. Peter was by his side in an instant, wrapping an arm around his waist before slinging one of Sam's arms around his shoulders. "Come on, don't be so overdramatic. It's just a scratch," Peter pushed, helping his friend limp through the doorway.

By the time he cut Sam's ties as well, his friend was beginning to pass out. Peter began to feel as concerned as Ava looked, and sucking in a deep breath, he turned to her. "You need to get him out," he started, but she shook her head.

"It's high security, and we're both useless without the amulet and his helmet. I can't do it," She shrugged, and it was then that an idea struck Peter.

"I need you to do exactly what I say, alright?"

-0-0-

"How did you manage to sneak this out?!" Iron Fist yelled, holding tightly onto Power Man as the Spidey-Cycle roared down the street.

"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I just had to break a few doors," Power Man yelled, taking a sharp left. They were only a few streets away from the signal cut off before a loud boom emitted from one of the sewer covers, causing the people in the surrounding area to gasp and step back. After a mere moment, a blur of gold and red shot out, holding a passed out teenager.

"Wait!" Iron Fist called, leaning back. Slamming on the brakes, Power Man forced the bike to come to a stop before both of their eyes went wide. They were currently looking upwards with the entire street at the Iron Spider, who was currently holding a passed out Sam Alexander to its chest.

"Where's Ava?" Iron Fist asked to Power Man, and before he could even begin to venture a guess, the suit shot towards them. Stopping to hover in front of them, the helmet pulled back, revealing an almost nervous looking Ava.

((Oh my. An injured Peter, alone with an unknown assailant? This should be interesting. By the way, I AM SO FREAKIN SORRY. I got a new computer (yay on that note) but unfortunately for me, all of my saved documents were on my other computer, which died (hence the reason for the new one!). So, I rewrote the chapter and made it longer than usual, so there's that ^-^ Enjoy, R&R if you so feel like it, and I'll see ya next time!))


	10. Even Heroes Fall

"A-Ava?"

Iron Fist's voice was full of disbelief as Power Man tensed up, asking, "How did you get that suit?"

"Peter," She stated, holding Sam a bit closer as he let out a pained groan. "Listen, you two need to go help him. He has his suit on, but he's still hurt, I can tell." Looking around at the gathering crowd, she flicked her left wrist, pulling the metal mask back over her features. "Straight down, a left, two rights," Ava ordered, starting up the rockets in her boots. "Hurry!" She exclaimed once more before shooting off, holding the injured boy in a death grip.

Watching as the two flew away, Iron Fist let out an almost distressed noise, covering his face with one hand. "'The one who wishes to protect is the one who is injured the most," He quoted, hoping off the bike. "We must hurry, who knows what situation Spiderman's gotten himself into by now."

Power Man only nodded, pushing up the kickstand on the bike. "Let's just hope no one will steal this," He muttered, walking over to the sewer drain with his masked friend in tow.

-0—0—

"It seems that Nick Fury is unwilling to co-operate," The voice hissed, the sound reverberating off of the walls as it entered Sam and Ava's abandon cells. "so it looks like we'll have to have our own f-"

It was then that silence engulfed the area, the glass covered eyes flicking around cautiously. One of the four metal arms protruding from his back twitched slightly before shooting out, nearly colliding with where Peter was crouched in a shadow covered corner.

"Hey!" The boy exclaimed, falling to the floor. Catching himself on the balls of his feet and the splayed fingertips of one hand, he stood prudently, watching as Doc Ock turned to look at him with an odd sort of Cheshire grin.

"Our beloved Spiderman, how wonderful of you to join me. Thankfully you've already taken care of your friends, seeing as they were mere distractions. Luckily for you, I don't have to kill them now to dispose of them." One of the claws clicked slightly as it moved, now aiming directly for the red clad teen as the other three formed almost a tripod, holding the doctor far above Spiderman's head.

"Ah, Doc Ock, you look like you haven't showered since I last saw you," The teen smiled smugly behind his mask, putting his hands on his hips. "And still as utterly creepy as usual. You have a gift, usually people manage to correct that whole 'everyone finds you terrifying' factor, but _you_, well. . . Let's just say that if you look up 'disturbing' in a dictionary, you'll see a picture of your school pictures."

The doctor said nothing as Peter watched closely, his eyes narrowing. "Now look, you have something that belongs to two of my friends, so let's just say that I 'need them back', you hand them over, I don't kick your butt, and we all walk away with a smile and fond memories. Sound good?" He asked. Spiderman wasn't an idiot, but he was cautious as he stepped forward, trying to see what the Doc's next move was. Spiderman was making his way towards the hallway that Doc Ock had just entered from when his sense went off.

Near immediately, and before he even had time to react, the free claw shot out, slamming into Spiderman's chest hard enough for something to crack. The teen let out a noise of surprise as he was pinned to the wall, and his hands clumsily clambered up to grip at the arm that was pin straight, leading right back to the source of his problems. "Oh, I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," The black haired man murmured, his gaze falling to the floor. With the claw still pressed firmly against his chest, the hero began to have labored breathing, his exhales sounding ragged.

"You see, my dear Spiderman, I don't want to make a deal with you. I want to kill you."

"Yeah, I guessed that," Spiderman wheezed, pulling at the claw to no avail.

"I want you _tortured_, _pained and broken_," He growled, pushing the claw harder against the spider marking on the suited teen's chest.

-0-0-

Iron Fist's head snapped up as a yell emitted through the sewer line they were walking. His hand flew out to stop Power Man, causing both of them to fall silent. After another moment, there was another shout, this one more pained.

"Wait a sec," Power Man stated, listening closely. When another yell was provided, the two looked at each other.

"Peter?"

((Alright, this is a short chapter, yes. But, I'm free for the next two days, so let's see if I can write some more ^-^ Also, this is unbeta'd, seeing as I'm on a car trip and only now posting this from having internet connection at some tiny diner, so. . . Yeah. There's that. Don't forget to R&R and I'll see you all next time!))


	11. Shut Up

"It's been two hours, what's taking you two so long?" Ava snapped into her communicator, sitting next to an unconscious Sam. "You two should have had him by now."

"A bit more difficult than you'd think," Power Man panted back, his fist slamming into the black clad being. They reminded him a lot of Venom, but much weaker, bone and strength wise. They were obvious prototypes, probably the very beginnings to a new mission in the future. But, unfortunately, the sheer number was staggering. Doc Ock had released more than a few in the beginning, and for the two boys, progress was slow. Every minion down meant two more on their way. They'd traveled a short distance in their time, and it was then Ava rolled her eyes.

"That's it, I'm coming down," She decided, ignoring the yells of protest from the two teens. Standing, she moved through the hospital room, walking over to the corner that the Iron Spider suit was standing patiently in. She's put it there after dropping Sam off, thinking that she wouldn't need it again. "I hate it when I'm wrong," She murmured. Reaching over, she pressed the small button located on the underside of the helmet, watching as the entire suit fell to pieces and re-commissioned around her. Feeling the eyes flick on, she looked around, letting out a sigh. "Who would have thought Parker was the mortar of the team?" She bit her bottom lip as she spoke, hating that the statement was proving to be true.

-0-0-

There was so much warmth that Peter had to open his eyes, just to make sure that the room he was in wasn't on fire. Blinking a few times, he let out a small cough, shifting under the blankets. Glancing around quickly, he let out a relieved sigh, thankful to be somewhere familiar. It was the Hellicarrier hospital wing. He'd been here tons, and last he could remember, Sam was here too. Suddenly, Peter sat up, now wondering how his friend was. Last he saw, the boy was. . . . . Well, let's just say 'a bit pale'. "Sam?" Peter asked, yawning as he stretched in the hospital bed. He flinched out of surprise when heard a few laughs from his friends, and when he looked over, he was surrounded by them. Ava and Danny on his right, and Luke and Sam on his left. The black haired boy nearly blushed as he shook his head, smiling.

"Morning, Web-Head," The boy grinned, nodding. "You took quite a hit from the Doc."

Shifting around, Peter's hands ran through his hair, over his throat before he moved his arms and legs. His brow furrowed after a moment, now confused. "I don't feel anything," said Peter, looking around the area once more. From here, he could see Danny, Ava and Luke, standing around the bed. Sam was sitting directly to his left, in a plastic chair. In fact, it was the same one as the night before, when they'd talked for hours. It looked as if it had been cut and pasted out of the memory, and this was a rather large red flag for the genius. The more he looked, the more things seemed _off_. Luke's nose was just a bit different, Danny's ears were too big, and Ava's eyes were shifting sizes. His eyes passed over one of the posters on the wall, but all of the letters were shifting, moving. HE couldn't read a single line without blinking. Turning back, he could feel a chill run down his spine. His Spidey-Sense wasn't going off, which sent him more on edge.

Noticing his friends' distress, Sam held his hands up. "That's because you're not awake, Parker. Actually, right now you're kind of on the brink."

"Brink? Brink of what?"

"Peter, listen," Danny started, his eyebrows sinking in an unnatural manner as his expression became pitying. "you need to wake up. You need to stay awake, lest you forget who you are. You'll lose yourself, and you need to stay awake. Please."

"Stay awake?" Feeing a sort of fear build up in his chest, he sat up a bit more. "I don't understand, where am-"

-0-0-

"I?" Peter croaked, feeling pain wash over him as his eyes opened just slightly.

"Mr. Parker. . . ." The villain nearly sang, giving Peter a small zap of electricity through the cords around his wrists. Peter snapped awake, his jaw clenching as he tried to wake up fully. He was hung by his wrists from his own Electro-Webbing. Thinking it over as he lolled his head back, he realized that it would have been almost Shakespearian if it didn't hurt so damn bad. Letting out a thick cough, Peter could feel that his face was uncovered, and his bottom lip was swollen.

"Ah, you're awake," The grown man smiled, his claws clicking. "You died, for a moment. But the heart is a funny thing. With just a small 'zap', it goes haywire."

"Wow, figure that out all by yourself?" Peter asked, sucking in a deep breath as he tried to touch the ground with his feet. When being met with air, he rolled his eyes. "And hung by my wrists? Your methods are _so_ original. Maybe you should write a book."

This earned him another zap, and now he couldn't hide the pained yelp that left his mouth. "You have a smart mouth," The doctor commented, watching. "If you want, you can just ask for me to kill you now. It would be a lot less pain on your part, I must say."

"I'm not French, I don't admit defeat that easily." Peter managed to look around the small area, noticing that it looked almost like a cave. "Ah, look, under a rock. Just where you belong."

Smiling mockingly, Peter tried shifting his hand, only to be met with a burning ache. His webbing was cutting through the skin, so he resolved not to move in the slightest. Instead, he let his head drop, now observing through his eyelashes in a manner that made it look as if he was simply resting. Stealth was the only thing he had to his advantage at the moment, and even then, it wasn't much.

"Already tired?" The man retorted, stepping back slightly. Peter took a second to look around, feeling his breathing catch as he noticed Sam and Ava's items. They were sitting in a small indent that was carved into the wall, and draped over them were Peter's gloves. They were so close, it wouldn't be too hard to grab them if he could just. . .

The electricity that followed was enough to make Peter yell, subconsciously pulling on his arms and digging the wiring in deeper. He lifted his hands slightly after, winding his fingers around the threading to hold onto something. There was a slight burning smell in the air, but Peter still managed to look down, giving a shaky and exhausted smile.

"I must say, I smell delicious when I'm cooked up." He inhaled deeply after he spoke, letting out a dramatic sigh. "Although, a bit of salt would be nice."

Being struck wasn't something that he anticipated, but when a claw swiped across his chest, ripping his outfit and tearing his skin, his eyes widened as deep red bloomed, darkening the material. "You need to mind your elders," Doc Ock hissed, sitting back. "Then again, I suppose you'll always be stubborn. Honestly, even when it comes to dying, you're slow."

-0-0-

((So the next chapter may be the last (probably not) and I have missed writing _so much oh my goodness_. So that may even be uploaded today, seeing as I want to finish this (really, I'm pretty much just reading this along with you guys). So look out for updates, don't forget to R&R and I love you guys. Seriously, you're all fabulous))


	12. Medals and Trophies

"Iron!"

Hearing the dull thud of a thin body hitting the ground, White Tiger's head swung around, catching sight of Power Man scooping up Iron Fist in one arm. He dark skinned teen had been watching when Iron Fist had gotten hit over the back his head with the elbow of a pawn, and his knees has buckled. "He's fine," the taller one said, looking at her. "Keep going."

They'd been battling for ages at this point, and thankfully the numbers were beginning to dwindle immensely. After White Tiger got there, the work was far easier, but now there appeared to be a major problem: One of the three fighters was injured. White Tiger doubled her work, the three long arms on the back of the suit impaling a different enemy every few moments. Rushing off to the side, Power Man immediately began assessing the injuries on the blonde, taking off his mask to see the cut. Noticing that it was deep but small, Power shook his head before letting out a thankful sigh when green eyes opened and looked up at him.

"For being so wise, you're an idiot for letting them sneak up on you," the taller of the two jibbed, letting out a small laugh.

Danny rolled his eyes before sitting up, resting a palm on the goose-egg forming along his hairline. "'One who fights for a good cause, will always meet challenges along the road'."

"It's not too bad, so I can't really classify it as a 'challenge'," Power Man shrugged, his eyes narrowing as he continued to observe. There was still a lot of blood, or at least enough to be worried about.

"Power, you can let me go," Danny muttered, smiling as he patted his friends arm. Even through the blood he was sporting a good sized smile. "I'm not going to be taken down by a small hit, don't worry."

Nodding, Power Man helped Danny stand before handing back his mask. As he re-tied it carefully, Iron Fist gave his friend a reassuring nod, his fist clenching as his arm began to glow. "We'll get him soon. We're near, I can feel it."

"Well, you are he guru," Power Man chuckled, charging forward to help White Tiger once more.

-0-0-

The noise his friends were making was getting closer, and Peter gave a small smile, his chest still shifting harshly as he fought to breathe. His torso was still bleeding, and the electricity was now at a low but steady rate. His vision was fading, but yet when he looked up he could very clearly see the confusion on the doctor's face.

"You're near death and greeting it with a smile? Hm. I thought you were weak," He commented, one of his claws reaching out to crank the electric flow up to maximum.

"Sure, this may make me feel a bitfried, but I'm hardly weak." Watching as the claw reached out, he sucked in a deep breath. As soon as the claw was within an inch of the lever, his grip on the threads cutting into his wrists tightened dramatically before he pulled with all his reserved strength.

If he were being honest, he would say that he knew the webbing was connected to pipes. Really, in his mind it was either piping or rocks, and judging by the rest of the rest of the small little cave they were in, he'd been leaning towards rocks. However, when the beautiful sound of screeching metal had greeted his ears, he'd realized that the Doc would need metal to get the electricity to him so evenly. When he broke away, Peter let out an odd laugh, his feet hitting the ground.

Immediately the doctor scrambled backwards, watching as the teen shakily stood. Peter continued to hold the threads tightly, now having two large sections of metal attached to the end of each line.

"See Doc, here's the thing," he started, taking a step forward, "when you put electricity through something over and over and _over_, something happens. It gets weak, and luckily for me, you chose to tie me up to metal. Sorry if I'm not as good as usual, I'm a bit _burnt out_."

With this, he grabbed the threads tightly before swinging his left arm around, the pipe section connecting with Doc Ock's torso. The sound reverberated all around the small space, and Peter wound the second pipe upwards, hitting the Doc from the opposite direction with his right line of piping. Watching as the man stumbled backwards and the claws raise up, Peter flicked the webbing downwards, causing the pipes to jump and tighten into almost a bind around the black haired mans waist and two of the extra appendages.

"I did ask politely, before," Peter pointed out, shrugging with a not-so-sorry expression as he jumped forward, rewrapping his arms around Doc Ock to tie him in place. Pulling himself by the threads, he hopped upwards with a familiar ease, his foot landing directly at the top of Doc Ock's spine. He could hear the claws rising to defend their controller, but he pressed the ball of his foot down, feeling the top part of the mechanism that gave the claws life under his boot. "One touch and they break," He warned seriously, smiling to himself as the metal around him stopped moving.

It was at that moment there was a clattering noise, causing Peter's head to raise upwards and look at the doorway. In ran three teens, all looking exhausted but completely alert. Immediately upon the sight in front of them, Power Man's fighting stance dropped. "How?" was all he asked, rolling his eyes as he scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Wonderful work, Peter," Iron Fist commented, as White Tiger let out a small huff of annoyance. Walking over, she plucked up Sam's helmet along with her amulet before looking with a furrowed brow at Peter's gloves and mask.

Looking up again, she practically blanched as she snatched them up and walked over. "Are those tied to your _wrists_?" She asked, looking closely at the webbing currently imbedded in the brunette's skin.

"Hey, I caught him, didn't I?" Peter pointed out, letting out a sigh of relief as one of the arms on the back of the Iron Spider shot out to cut the threading away. Keeping his foot in place, he rubbed at the cut skin before feeling his Spidey-Sense go off, a moment later being greeted with a face full of material. Grabbing it all blindly and letting out a stale "Good shot," in White Tiger's direction (she simply shrugged), he slipped his mask back on along with his gloves, doing a proper job of tying the madman up.

"So, Tiger, since you have a talent for it," Spiderman started, slamming his foot down and watching the tentacles fall dead as their owner let out a yell of pain, "mind calling S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

-0-0-

"Alright, if I can get a bedpan balanced, I'll beat Danny."

Of all the things Sam thought he would wake up to, that was _very _low on the list. Opening a tired eye before blinking repeatedly from the influx of light, Sam lifted a hand to guard his face, only to be met with a clattering sound and a groan from Peter, a cheer from Danny, and laughing from Ava and Luke.

"Why did you have to wake up _now_?" Peter whined before crossing his arms across his chest as Sam fought to sit up. Managing to do so, he could feel his skull throb painfully as he looked at his bed, various objects spread across his blankets; two thermometers, six drinking cups, a pair of shoes, his own helmet, a soda can, two cell phones, and on the floor there were several pillows and bottles of medicine.

"What are you doing?" He croaked, his eyes narrowing as he looked between his friends.

"Trying to see how much we could balance on you while you were out," Luke admitted, half of his mouth lifted in a friendly smile. "So far, Danny's the crowned winner."

"And _I_ would have taken that crown and worn it proudly if you didn't have just terrible issues with timing," Peter pointed out, flicking one of the thermometers across the room.

"But you didn't," Danny pointed out calmly, "which means I still have the metaphorical crown."

The more Sam looked, the more he really _saw_ how big of a battle it had been. Luke, didn't look like he had a scratch on him. Obviously he didn't, thanks to that industrial-strength skin of his. Then there was Ava, who had a few nicks and scratches. Nothing major. Next was Danny, white banadages standing stark against the skin of his face. From what Sam could tell, the boy had gotten hit more than once.

Finally, he was on to Peter. Really looking at the brunette, Sam wanted to wince. Bandaging around his wrist from God knows what kind of wound, bandaged chest, a few small tapped cuts on his forehead. He knew that Peter would heal in a few days, but at the moment he looked a bit rough.

Averting his eyes, Sam sucked in a deep breath. "What happened?" He asked, looking between all of them.

"Basically, I had to save the three of them after I brought you here," Ava shrugged, earning several sounds of annoyance form the boys behind her. Ignoring them, she heard a small chiming noise. Reaching into her pocket, she looked at the screen of her phone before shrugging. "Sorry, gotta take this." Pressing 'send', she murmured a small "Ava speaking," before walking out of the room. The three watched her leave, everyone but Sam wearing a furrowed brow at the fact of how she'd summed up their day.

"Actually, she came back when Danny and I were working overtime to get to Peter. By the time we got there, though, he'd managed to get the Doc tied up and we were able to leave without doing anything else." Luke gave Peter a light punch on the shoulder, oblivious to the brunettes following wince. "He really did hold his own." Peter almost looked proud as he listened, half of his mouth tilted in a smile.

"We were all rather surprised. 'Those who give the impression of immaturity are usually the ones who grow the quickest'. To be honest, we thought you'd still be playing around with him, or worse still in danger. You did well, Peter." Danny gave the boy a smile before his phone went off as well, causing him to sigh. "I have to go back to my room, they need to re-bandage my head and check for any signs of a concussion. We'll be back later, I'm sure." Giving a small nod, Danny stood, accepting the help that Luke offered up immediately. Sam watched them go, Danny leaning heavily on the tall teen. This left him completely alone with Peter, who actually looked slightly nervous.

The two were silent for a short while, listening to the beeping of the machines in the room. Eventually, Peter spoke up. "So I heard Thundra got you," he started, clicking his tongue. "Tough luck."

"Yeah, and apparently a tiger got ahold of you. No offense, but you look like crap." Sam's words were coming out slower than he would have liked, but he dealt with it.

"Yeah, like you look like a picnic yourself there, sunshine. Not to mention that you sound like your mouth is full of marbles."

"Uh huh, says the one who has more bandaging than a mummy."

"You have an old-person-jogging-awkwardly-in-the-park headband going with _your_ bandaging."

"You look like one of the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park clawed your chest."

"Your face is so pasty you look like you're slathered in sunscreen."

"Did you bath in razors this morning?"

"Bed-ridden."

"Arachnid."

"Bucket-Head."

At this point they were both laughing too hard to continue, Sam feeling less forlorn and Peter finally just feeling actually happy. By the time they had both settled down, Peter had tinted cheeks and Sam was grinning.

Letting out a small sigh, Sam rested back. "Good job on not dying," he admonished, earning a bark of laughter from Peter.

"Good job on not slipping into a coma."

"It's a talent."

"You should do it professionally. Wait, hold that, you already do."

Both of them were silent once more, Peter staring at his hands as Sam looked at the blanket. "Really though," Sam started, clearing his throat, "I'm glad you're alright."

Peter continued to look down, thankful that the blush he was sporting could be passed off as redness left over from laughing. "I'm happy you are too." It was true: while he'd been hanging there, waiting for a chance to take over Doc Ock, he'd thought about Sam more than he should have. "I was oddly worried that you wouldn't wake up. It's dumb, I know."

"If I had been thinking a bit more clearly, I think I would have been worried too," Sam shrugged. "But thanks to your idea with Ava and the suit, I managed to get here and get help. I'm not sure I'd be even remotely okay if I'd had to be down there any longer."

"Wait a minute," Peter stopped him, beginning to smile. "Did you just try to inadvertently thank me?"

Rolling his eyes, Sam crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't rub it in my face, alright? Just accept it and move on."

"Nonono, this needs recognition! Hmmm. . . Perhaps I should get a medal," He thought aloud, rubbing at his chin. "Nah, too small. Trophy? With a little Spidey on top, having a fist in the air with a large plague stating that you admitted I did something right?"

"You're pushing it," Sam groaned, covering a hand over his face. "Just let it go."

"Would you be willing to sign it? Sharpie would do."

"Peter!"

-0-0-

From the next room over, Danny and Luke were able to hear the two bickering along with quite a bit of laughter. Sitting back against his own bed, Danny's face got a contemplative look on it.

"Do you think Peter will ever tell Sam?" He asked curiously, looking over at Luke.

Luke simply shrugged, letting out a huff of air through his nostrils as he smiled. "Who knows? Even though Sam's an idiot, he's not stupid. I'm sure he'll figure it out someday."

Hearing a laugh from Sam, Danny smiled. "Let's hope so."

((Fin? End? Confession? Another? What should I do? This feels like an odd ending to leave it on, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I'm so sorry about the wait!))


	13. The Bet

((Hey guys! Sorry this took so long, but my brother stole my computer before I could get it uploaded and he _just_ gave it back. Anyways, this a continuation, and thanks for the awesome reviews! Hope you enjoy))

Ava, Danny and Luke had now had the same bet going for nearly six months: How long it would take Peter to tell Sam what he was feeling. Originally, after the accidents that had landed them both in the hospital, the group bet that it would happen in less than a week. Eventually, they had to move it up to a month. Now it was just past the third 'redo' in their bets, and Ava was slowly reaching the end of her rope.

"Guys, this is getting ridiculous. Have you _seen_ them together? It's sickening! They either act like an old married couple that bickers constantly, or they act like a pair of newlyweds that blush at anything the other says." She rolled her eyes as she lounged against the couch in the common room Fury had reserved for them. "I have thirty bucks and a week of chores bet on this, I refuse to let it drop."

"I say we make a final bet," Luke started, sitting back. "One that doesn't have a time limit that can run out."

"How about we see who can get them to admit it to one another?" Ava suggested, sitting up a bit more.

"That seems rude, doesn't it?" Danny said, biting his bottom lip. "That should be something that is decided with time, now with our own needs."

Ava just shrugged, and Luke gave a small smile. "It's not that rude, considering they are both just too nervous to say it to one another." Luke defended, giving his friend an assuring look.

"I. . . I suppose," Danny sighed, biting his bottom lip. "Still, 'Thee who forces another's fate will force their own in the process.'"

"Alright, we get it. But prepare to owe me thirty bucks and dish washing duty," Ava smiled, standing. "I'm gonna go try my luck." Ava made her way out of the common room, cracking her knuckles as she began to form an idea in her head.

Soon the room was quiet, and Luke decided that perhaps he should leave as well. Walking out of the room, Luke patted Danny's back, the blonde still looking conflicted.

"Don't worry, man, it'll all be alright."

-0-0-

"Peter!"

Danny jogged to catch up with Peter as the boy continued down the hall, nearly not noticing the green eyed boy running at him. At the last moment, he turned to look at Danny with a pleased expression, raising an eyebrow.

"What's up?" The brunette asked, slowing his steps to fall in pace with Danny.

"Chasing you down, school work. The usual. Along with something that we need to talk about."

"Alright, talking sounds good." Peter waved his hand for Danny to continue, causing the blonde to flush.

"I'm afraid you wouldn't be fond of the idea of discussing this in public," Danny admitted, wringing his hand slightly. "It's about Sam."

The only indication that Peter gave was the tips of his ears turning pink, but it was hardly noticeable. "Alright, uh. . . . . . Bathroom?"

"That'll work." Nodding over towards the door containing a blue sign with a pale white stick figure branded on it, Danny lead the way before closing the door behind them, locking it. Pulling in a deep breath, the blonde leaned against a sink. "The others know."

Peter paled slightly before his eyes widened, his hands coming up to cover his face. "I swear to god, Danny, if you're not joking, I will web you by your toes to the flag pole."

"I apologize, Peter, but in my defense, you haven't really been hiding it. They are very intuitive, they would have figured it out by now anyways." Swallowing thickly, Danny scratched a hand through his hair. "We kind of. . . . Have a bet going."

This caused Peter's hands to slide down to only cover his mouth, the skin under his eyes stretching to give him a terrifying and terrified expression. "You are making bets? What kind of bets? Why would you even _make_ bets, Danny?!"

"I didn't start it!" Danny assured. "Ava did. I just eventually agreed and participated. But the newest bet I _don't_ agree with, so I'm giving you a chance to get a step ahead. Ava and Luke are going to try and get you to admit your feelings to Sam."

"WHY?!" Peter snapped with a horrified expression. "Why would I do that?! Why would I humiliate myself for him to turn me down?"

"Considering that he wouldn't turn you down, there are several reasons," Danny assured, his hands coming up in a surrendering gesture.

"He would too, he's Sam, he likes the opposite gender and stupid jokes that usually involve puns." Peter's hands slid up to grab at his hair. "Please don't tell me they are going to badger him too? Oh my god, why would you guys do this?"

"I'm giving you an advantage, Peter!" Danny pointed out, standing up fully. "Look, now you know that it's going to happen eventually, alright? You know that they're either going to spill it to Sam, or they're going to force you to spill it, and don't put it past Ava to resort to physical force. You have to tell Sam yourself, that way the bet has no winner, no one forced it, and you can just be _honest_. 'Honesty is key in any relationship'."

"There's no relationship! He's as bad with emotions as I am! We have what we have, don't murder that. Come on, you're the pacifist, save the small little thing that I have managed to grow from this, and let me keep it alive."

"You have a friendship. That's a relationship. And instead of pining for him, why don't you just tell him? If he responds in a negative manner, then turn it into a joke, you are both awkward enough to accept that as an excuse to change the subject."

Heaving a loud sigh, Peter bit his bottom lip before thudding his head back against the tiling of the wall, not noticing that a few of the tiles cracked. "Fine, fine, finefinefine, I hate you, fine. I'll do it. Just, can you ward off Luke and Ava? Pretty much the _last_ thing I want is to go up to Sam and finally tell him just to hear, 'Yeah, I know, Ava told me last week.'"

Danny offered a smile, walking back over to the door. "I can do that, I can promise you. 'The one who-'"

Peter just held up his hand, pulling the door open. "Not the time for cryptic notes, I need to mentally prepare for pretty much the worst experience ever right now."

Danny only nodded, biting back another smile before the pair of them walked out.

After several beats of silence, the stall door on the far end of the bathroom opened, revealing a tanned teenager who was currently biting his knuckles to stop himself from talking out during that entire conversation. As Sam let his feet drop back to the floor from their current spot on the toilet, no longer needing to hide his presence, he could only stare at the door, feeling his heart beat in his ears.

"I'm not _that_ bad with emotions. Not 'Peter' bad, at least," He muttered, not being able to stop the small blush that accompanied his smile as he trailed out of the bathroom.

((I'm really wanting to write more, so there may actually be another one tonight. WHO KNOWS LET'S JUST SEE))


	14. Keep It Together

((I am horrible, no? I made you wait an entire month, that's not cool on my part. SO HERE'S A REALLY LONG FINAL CHAPTER (HEART)))

_Play it cool, play it cooool. Come on, Sam, you're a step ahead here. It's been like. . . at least a month since that last happened. _

Pulling in a deep breath and slapping on a calm smile, Sam lifted his hand to knock at Peter's front door, only to have the thing swing open before his knuckles could meet the wood.

"Sam! What a surprise!" Aunt May's eyes crinkled as she smiled widely, her purse hanging from her left shoulder as she readjusted her hat. Her dressing was as modest as always, her hair pulled back in a bun, yet she somehow seemed. . . different. The twinkle in her eye was somehow more mischievous than usual. "I was just heading off to bowling, I'm sure you're looking for Peter."

Nodding, Sam managed to continue to smile with ease as he raised an eyebrow. "Is he available?" He asked in an innocent tone, tipping his head slightly to the left. He knew he was being a bit dramatic, but he always _seemed _innocent enough. Hopefully he could continue that streak.

"Upstairs, he's in his room. He's just finishing up with his homework, but it's not as if that would be a problem." The look she sported at that moment was nothing short of prideful, and Sam couldn't help but note the fondness that seemed to ebb from her expression. After a second, she looked down to glance at her wrist before her eyebrows raised dramatically. "Sorry Sam, but I have to dash. Tell Peter I said goodbye and that dinner is on the on the counter." Patting Sam's shoulder, she smiled before walking off, a slight bounce in her step that she'd never been seen without.

Slipping inside, Sam closed the door behind himself, leaning against it momentarily as he began to gather his thoughts. Peter was upstairs. The same Peter that apparently liked him. Even after all of the crap that he'd put him through.

"What does that say about you, Parker?" Sam muttered under his breath, blushing as he pulled in a deep inhale. This was it; The confrontation. Not something he ever really thought that he'd be doing.

The walk upstairs was long, and somehow more daunting than he had thought it would be. But by the time he'd reached Peter's room, Sam was more set in what he was going to say, a bit more confident.

"Who's there?" Sounded from inside the room, causing Sam to jump for a second before sighing. Pushing open the door, Peter raised an eyebrow as he was met with the sight of the raven haired boy. "Hey. When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago, your aunt let me in." Shrugging, Sam gave a crooked smile. "I just. . . I thought maybe we should talk."

Sam nearly laughed when Peter paled heavily, but managed to keep a straight face. That is, of course, until Peter managed to stutter out, "You haven't been talking to Ava, h-have you?"

Sure, he knew it was wrong to laugh, but he just looked so freakin _panicked_ that before he knew it, Sam was laughing and pinching the bridge of his nose, earning a disgruntled sigh and a glare from the other teen. If their lives were a cartoon, Sam was positive smoke would be above Peter's head. "Calm down, Web-Head, I haven't talked to Ava. I just listened in on something, and I thought I would help you out."

"Help me out? I don't need help on anything." Brow furrowing, Peter's eyes narrowed as he looked at Sam. "What did you listen in on?"

"Well, I was in the bathroom when I heard you and Danny talking, and when you got all tense I didn't just want to burst out there and startle you guys. So, I-"

"You've got to be joking." Giving Sam a dead stare, Peter merely blinked once. "Please tell me that Danny told you to say that or something, oh my god, please."

"I'm not that bad with emotions!" He immediately dragged up, pointing a finger at Peter. "That's crap, and you know it."

"Oh my god, what is with people and their total lack of privacy?!" Peter groaned out, covering his face as he began to blush. "I was supposed to tell you all of that, not have you freakin eavesdrop and hear the whole thing!"

"Well, too bad man. It already happened, you can't take that back." Shrugging, Sam crossed his arms before smiling slightly. "Why Danny, of all people? I thought you'd tell MJ, or Harry first."

"Danny is wise and all that. I thought he'd have a better answer than 'wait for it'." Rolling his eyes, Peter leaned against the door frame. "And then they started making bets, and . . . Oh my god, this is not how I pictured this."

"I'm just surprised that someone so smart would do something as dumb as get a crush on me. Like seriously, dude, I nearly got you killed six month ago." Shaking his head, his small smile turned into a full time grin. "How long have you liked me for?"

Blushing even harder, Peter stood up a bit taller. "About eight months," he answered honestly. "And you know what? I don't see why that's a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with it." In his mind, he could just imagine how stupid he looked right about now. He could also imagine Sam laughing and saying that he liked MJ, and her hopping into his arms before the boy shot away into space while the two of them laughed like those villains in those old black and white films. Then again, the second one didn't seem all that likely at the moment.

Clearing his throat, Sam nodded. "I don't see anything wrong with it either," He admitted off-hand, feeling warmth creep up the back of his neck.

"Wait, seriously?" Peter asked, his eyebrow arching as he relaxed a bit. He hadn't even realized how much he'd tensed himself up in anticipation for rejection.

"No, I'm joking, ha ha ha," Sam said mechanically. "Yes I'm serious! I wanted to tell you a while ago, but. . . Like I said, I was kind of a jerk back then and I thought it would ruin my chances."

"Yeah, you were, but that was back then and even then, well. . . . You stayed by my bedside." Shrugging for the billionth time, Peter continued, "I didn't think you'd do something like that. Not to mention that you kind of looked half dead yourself."

"Yeah, I must've. I was freaking exhausted." Laughing slightly, Sam ducked his head before looking up at Peter. "So. . . . What now, exactly?"

"Well, I think this is the part where I hint that I want your number, you don't get it, we talk for another ten minutes, then I finally ask you only for you to say you don't have a phone and you walk away. Or, at least that's my experience with flirting."

"Wow." Scrubbing a hand over his face, Sam laughed. "I was thinking more like, go on a date or something. But we can do that too, if you want, I have awesome avoidance skills."

"Yeah, so awesome, in fact, you bombarded me in my own home about this."

"Yeah, so I avoided you confronting me by confronting you first. That means I win."

"How do you win? You eavesdropped, thats the cheating of real life! You can't just do that."

"I already did, can't take it back."

"Yeah, but I still win, even if it's by default."

"Dude, that's a cowards victory."

"It's better than your sore losing."

Rolling his eyes, Sam reached a hand out and pushed Peter's shoulder. "Jerk."

"Idiot," Peter retaliated, pushing Sam's head back lightly with a smile. "So. . . What kind of date did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, a movie? Dinner? Dinner, probably, I could eat a horse right now."

"A horse? Dude, that meat would be tough and just taste like sadness."

"Wow, you know, for being Peter, you sound a lot like PETA."

"Hardy har har." Stepping out into the hall, Peter pulled the door closed behind him. "Then lets grab something to eat." Nodding towards the stairs, Peter cautiously reached out and grabbed Sam's hand, blindly lacing their fingers together as he pulled him along. "Come on, I know a good place."

Sam had exactly two seconds to be happy before both of their communicators went off, Fury's face appearing. "Team, we have a new mission."

-0-0-

"So much for eating," Nova managed to call out to Spiderman, flying past as they tried to clean up some of the wreckage. Rhino had come back, and right now the two of them were on duty to take care of the civilians while White Tiger, Iron Fist and Power Man worked to take care of the man currently ripping New York apart at the seams.

"Maybe tomorrow. How about Chinese?" He joked, swinging down to the street. Nova managed to land next to him, the two standing as they listened to the sounds of people panicking around them.

"Nah, not really in the mood. Mexican?"

"Ah yes, exactly what I need: edible fire." Turning his head, he flashed Nova a cheesy smile before his senses went off like a bell, causing him to shoot a web upwards and pull. "Move!" He ordered, looking down as Rhino charged through the street once more.

Nova managed to shoot upwards, only his foot getting hit by Rhino's charge. Letting out a small yelp of surprise, he managed to ignore it, lifting a hand as he began blasting at the grey figure. From down below, he could see a sudden movement before Power Man had invaded the center of the street, his hands raised up. Both of the two up top smiled widely when the man was distracted just for a second from the heat of Nova's blasts. The difference in his speed wasn't much, but it would have to do. Within a moment, the Rhino had charged straight into Power Man, his speed dwindling as Power Man's feet dug into the street while his hands stayed firmly gripped onto the man's shoulders. From behind, there was a small yell as Iron Fist jumped up off of Power Man's back, slamming his fist down against the only exposed skin the Rhino possessed. Surprisingly, the villain crumpled with a yell. From between two different buildings, White Tiger ran forward, slightly out of breath but still on top of the matter. Jumping up on his back, she switched the electricity on in her gloves, pressing it under his chin as a silent threat.

"Dang it Iron, why didn't I have you around the first time? This all would have been a lot easier," Spiderman yelled down, feigning annoyance and earning a winning grin from the green and yellow clad hero.

"Yeah, just Iron, I get it. He's the only one that helped out." Faking hurt, Power Man pouted as he earned a consoling pat on the shoulder from the wise one of the group. Eventually the two laughed as White Tiger began to yell at them for losing her in the crowds, also about how reckless they'd been when it came to stopping their newest target.

Watching the scene with vague interest, Spiderman merely glanced over at his friend, not noticing anything different. "Took less time than I expected," The brunette admitted, shrugging. "So, Nova, still up for dinn-" Looking over at where Nova had been floating, really looking, Spidey frowned. Nova didn't look too hot. He looked like he was either about to throw up or cry. "You okay?" He asked, tipping his head to the side. When he didn't get a response, he webbed Nova's arm, pulling slightly. "Come on, down to the ground." Surprisingly, Nova actually listened, letting himself float down while Spidey merely swung, reaching the ground a moment before the defender.

The moment he met gravel, Nova collapsed, his left foot springing up to his hands as he let out a hiss between his teeth. "He broke my foot," Nova admitted, looking slightly guilty as he sat up a bit more.

Spiderman was quiet for all of a moment before letting out an annoyed sigh. "Why do you get injured so much?"

"Because not all of us heal in an instant?" He snapped back, his eyes narrowing.

"Well it's not my fault your Nova Corps thing doesn't give out good healthcare," the red clad hero pointed out, sitting down next to Nova as he watched Iron Fist call SHIELD in.

"Shut up," Nova ordered, putting a hand over Spidey's mask before pushing him backwards, smiling as he earned a small, 'Hey!' while his friend toppled over.

Sitting up and brushing the imaginary dirt off of his suit, Spiderman was very careful to look around. Everyone had deserted the small street a while ago, and only a few were trickling back in, all focused on the white clad girl standing on top of the rhino sized man. Deciding to risk it, he lifted up the bottom of his mask and freed his mouth, leaning forward to kiss Nova once. In all reality, it was pretty much the shortest kiss in history, but hey, it was a start. Nova's eyes were slightly wide as he looked over at a grinning Peter, who pulled his mask back on completely.

"You have terrible timing," Nova pointed out, even as he smiled.

"Yeah, I've been told that before. But hey, it _kinda _seemed like good timing, so I went for it."

"You're getting all sappy on me, dude."

"Am not!"

"Just keep it together, Web-Head," Nova grinned, leaning over to kiss Spiderman's cheek once before lifting off the ground. He could see a few SHIELD agents coming onto the scene, and he needed to get to Doc Connors to fix his foot as quickly as possible. "You coming?" He asked, nodding towards the Helicarrier.

-0-0-

"You are evil."

"That is so unfair, you manipulative ghoul."

The other three teammates watched as Spiderman and Nova kissed, while Iron Fist grinned like a Cheshire. "See? Told you I could get Sam to tell Peter."

"But you lied to him, you told him no one would win!" White Tiger argued, even as she pulled out her wallet. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nova shoot off with Spiderman in hot pursuit towards the Helicarrier. "Not to mention that you knew Sam was in the bathroom too."

"'A small white lie can provide a rather large truth with light'," Iron Fist grinned, plucking the money from White Tigers hand as Power Man passed over his money with a sigh. "So, which one of you wants kitchen duty, and which wants cleaning the bathrooms?"

((Fin! So freaking sorry this took this long to update, it's just been a really hectic month. I may write other stories that I will be a lot more dedicated to and will actually update every other day, so tell me if there's a prompt you want written or any pairing in particular. And who knows? I may just add fluff to this if the mood strikes. ^-^ Hope you guys have an awesome day and thank you for reading! (heart)))


End file.
